The dataset indludes a series of radiation data, including global radiation, diffuse radiation, PAR, and diffuse PAR of China from 1981 to 2010, based on the observations of China Meteorology Administration (CMA) and Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN). The dataset are freely available, and should be useful for the analysis of the spatio-temporal variations of solar radiation in China and the impact of diffuse radiation on terrestrial ecosystem productivity based on ecosystem models.